This essay examines Lixiang Zhang’s (張立翔) Chengxiang (澄象, Purified Image) series as a pivotal case for understanding how contemporary Chinese ink painting redefines abstraction within global modernism. Through comparative dialogue with Mark Rothko and Isamu Noguchi, it argues that Zhang’s art transcends binary distinctions between East and West, tradition and modernity, materiality and transcendence. Drawing on Zong Bing’s (宗炳)…